I’m currently in the process of compiling favourite moments from 2009; though not entirely finished, the list will include tidbits from the worlds of music, food, fashion, and art. They’ll be small, delicious morsels.
Typing of which, I’m also going to be posting my recipe for sugar plums shortly. Haven’t done much holiday baking? Want to impress the in-laws? Oven-allergic? These little balls of joy are for you.
First, however, Holmesian goodness:
As a teen, I voraciously read Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of the British detective, and eschewed Basil Rathbone‘s dry, humourless interpretation for the utterly-excellent Jeremy Brett, who will, to my mind, always remain the quintessential Sherlock. Not even Robert Downey Jr. can compete -though truth be told, I don’t think he’s trying to. It seems as it director Guy Ritchie is more interested in using the aesthetic of Victorian London and combining it with a modern action-film sensibility, all filtered through a steampunk perspective. The only connection the film would seem to have the Conan Doyle originals is the title -and truly, that’s fine by me. If it inspires younger people to return to the original source material, so much is the better. They might even discover the beautiful British series featuring Brett. There’s room for all kinds of interpretations here. Why be stodgy?
The yucky-faces surely being made by Holmes purists over the new film reminds me of reactions to new interpretations in opera and theatre; heaven forbid they be done in anything but “traditional” mode! How boring. What a good way of killing creativity. Ugh. I’d think a captivating reinvention would make people more apt to go back to the source material. If the original art is strong enough -whether written, musical, dramatic, or otherwise -it can easily withstand re-envisioning. Remember Bridget Jones? Jane Austen is grinning from the great beyond. I have a feeling Arthur Conan Doyle is doing the same with the new Sherlock Holmes. If the aughties have taught us anything, it’s that re-imagining and reinterpreting art from the past is every bit as vital (and hard) as creating the original stuff. At the end of the day, it’s all elementary.